 
between the years 700 to 1200 a.d. the moslems had the most advanced 
civilization in the world. 
then something went wrong. 
moslem civilization stopped advancing. 
by 1600 the civilization of europe began to develop more rapidly and 
surpass that of the moslems. 
there are a number of reasons which help to explain this decline. 
by the middle of the 10th century it was evident that there was no real 
unity in the moslem lands. 
although most of the countries recognized the caliph in baghdad as their 
ruler, local leaders did pretty much as they wished. 
different religious groups arose, each claiming to be the true followers 
of islam. 
these groups plotted against and fought with each other. 
arabs, persians and turks rivaled one another for important positions and 
for leadership. 
therefore, in the face of a common enemy the moslem lands could not really 
put up any resistance. 
from 1097 to 1291 the christians in europe tried to reconquer the holy 
land from the moslems. 
the coastal cities of palestine, parts of syria and turkey were captured 
by the christians. 
during this period moslem rulers made alliances with europeans against 
other moslems. 
finally the famous ruler of egypt, salah-al-din (saladin) was able to 
unite enough territory and in 1187 to defeat the christians, who were driven 
from jerusalem. 
during the 200 years of warfare there was considerable destruction in the 
middle east. 
in general, as the christians in europe grew stronger they began to expand 
at the expense of islam. 
areas such as spain, which had been part of the moslem world, were 
gradually taken over by the europeans. 
